C / 442 V1

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C / 442 V1 [i]
Properties of the orbit ( animation )
Epoch:  December 16, 442 ( JD 1,882,846.5)
Orbit type parabolic
Numerical eccentricity 1.0
Perihelion 1.53 ± 0.05 AU
Inclination of the orbit plane 106 ± 5 °
Perihelion December 15, 442 ± 30 days
Orbital velocity in the perihelion 34 ± 1 km / s
history
Explorer
Date of discovery November 9, 442
Older name 442
Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . Please also note the note on comet articles .

C / 442 V1 is a comet that could be seen with the naked eye in 442 and 443 . It is counted among the " Great Comets " due to its extraordinary brightness .

Discovery and observation

The Chinese Chronicle Chén Shū from the 7th century reports that a "sparkling star" was first sighted on the morning of November 10, 442 (local time), which was in the constellation Great Bear . It then moved through the constellations Carter , Taurus and Eridanus and disappeared again during the winter. The date of the last observation cannot be determined exactly, because the chronicle Sòng Shū from the 5th century only reports that the comet disappeared after more than a hundred days in the west. The date of the last sighting can only be roughly estimated from the brightness information; Hasegawa assumes February 18, 443 for this.

Several European sources also report a large comet in 442. The Gallaek bishop and historian Hydatius reports in his Continuatio Chronicorum Hieronymianorum from the 5th century:

“(442) Cometae sidus apparere incipit mense Decembri: quod per menses aliquot visum subsequentis in pestilentia plagae, quae fere in toto orbe diffusa est, praemisit ostentum."

"A comet began to appear in December, which was then visible for a few months and a sign of a plague that spread almost all over the world."

- Hydatius : Continuatio Chronicorum Hieronymianorum

The Eastern Roman historian Marcellinus Comes also reported in his Chronicon from the 6th century the appearance of a comet in 442:

"(442) X. Eudoxii et Dioscori. Stella quae crinita dicitur per plurimum tempus ardens apparuit. "

“[Indication] X. [Consulate of] Eudoxius and Dioscorus. A star called a comet appeared burning for a long time. "

- Marcellinus Comes : Chronicon

A terse mention in the Irish annals of Inisfallen ("A comet appeared") probably refers to the account of Marcellinus.

The comet reached a brightness of 1–2 mag around December 7th .

Orbit

Hasegawa could only determine a very uncertain parabolic orbit for the comet from observations over 100 days , which is inclined by around 106 ° to the ecliptic . Its orbit is thus almost perpendicular to the orbits of the planets . At the point of the orbit closest to the sun ( perihelion ), which the comet passed through around December 15, 442, it was located at a distance of about 230 million km between the orbits of Mars and Earth . By December 6th, it could have come close to the earth to around 0.58  AU / 90 million km. By December 31st, it could have approached Mars within about 60 million km.

Due to the uncertain initial data, no statement can be made as to whether and, if so, when the comet could return to the inner solar system .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ AG Pingré: Cométographie ou Traité historique et théorique des comètes. Tome I. Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1783, p. 312, 600–601 ( PDF; 56.49 MB ).
  2. ↑ J. Williams: Observations of Comets, from BC 611 to AD 1640. Strangeways and Walden, London 1871, p. 32 ( PDF, 20.93 MB ).
  3. ^ A b I. Hasegawa: Orbits of Ancient and Medieval Comets. In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. Vol. 31, 1979, pp. 257-270 ( bibcode : 1979PASJ ... 31..257H ).
  4. ↑ Hydatius Lemicus: Continuatio Chronicorum Hieronymianorum (469). In: Th. Mommsen (Ed.): Chronica Minora Saec. IV. V. VI. VII. Vol. II. Weidmann, Berlin 1894, p. 24 ( online ).
  5. ^ GW Kronk: Cometography - A Catalog of Comets, Volume 1, Ancient - 1799. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-58504-0 , pp. 79-80.
  6. ^ Marcellinus VC Comes: Chronicon (518). In: Th. Mommsen (Ed.): Chronica Minora Saec. IV. V. VI. VII. Vol. II. Weidmann, Berlin 1894, p. 80 ( online ).
  7. ^ D. McCarthy, A. Breen: An Evaluation of Astronomical Observations in the Irish Annals . 1979, pp. 4-5. ( PDF; 76 kB )
  8. ↑ DK Yeomans: NASA JPL Solar System Dynamics: Great Comets in History. Retrieved June 29, 2016 .
  9. ↑ C / 442 V1 in the Small-Body Database of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (English).
  10. ↑ A. Vitagliano: SOLEX 11.0. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 18, 2015 ; accessed on May 2, 2014 .